How does a historian construct the narrative of a life? What gives a life meaning? How do we understand and connect imaginatively to the life experiences of the people who lived history rather than those who made it? What are the pitfalls of reconstructed experience—e.g. selective memory, ideological bias, and narrative over-simplification? How do we use the power of narrative responsibly? This course focuses on the lives and historical experiences of individuals. The emphasis of the class will be on the lives of relatively unknown figures such as farmers, merchants and housewives.
History